What Kind of Houses Did the Caddo Live In?
The Caddo Indians were an agricultural people residing in the southeastern United States. They usually lived in unique cone-shaped huts grouped together in villages.
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Geography
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The Caddo tribe lived mainly in forested areas of eastern Texas and in small regions of Oklahoma, Arkansas and Louisiana as well. Their communities ranged from isolated farmsteads to small groupings of homes and a few larger villages. The largest villages functioned as ceremonial and community gathering centers. The Caddo were part of the Indian culture that built earthen mounds and then situated their temples and chiefs' homes on top of the mounds. The center of the larger villages included burial mounds, the temple, homes for priests and shamans, and open space for ceremonies and social gatherings.
Types
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Most Caddos lived in tall homes that were conical and shaped like beehives. The homes were built with a framework of poles and covered with grass. Some had extended doorways. Several families might live in one of these huts, which could be up to 45 feet in diameter.
Some Caddo people lived in rectangular or oval houses that were made of poles in the ground, covered with brush and then heavily covered with mud. These homes had thatched grass roofs or roofs covered with bark. This type of home also sometimes served as a secondary winter dwelling for people who lived in the conical huts.
The homesteads usually had an outdoor work platform as well as a drying rack for food, along with an elevated thatched dome used for storing corn.
Each house kept a sacred fire burning at all times, since fire was an important part of the Caddo religion. They believed that fire was part of the sun and that the sun represented the highest god. -
Features
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The homes were a good distance from one another, separated by woodlots and very large gardens. Households typically were farmsteads with homes and work areas for one or more families.
Considerations
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Living in a heavily forested region, the Caddo tribe was able to build furniture for their homes and make many other items out of wood, such as bowls for eating and bows and arrows for hunting. They also created beautiful clay pottery as bowls and cooking pots and to store their food. They farmed pumpkins, squash, beans and corn, and hunted for deer, turkey, rabbits and other small game. They traveled to the plains areas to hunt buffalo.
Time Frame
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By 1860, the Caddo people had all been relocated to reservations, and today most live in Oklahoma. They no longer live in any of these traditional dwellings.
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Resources
- Photo Credit Replica of Caddo house at Caddoan Mounds State Historic Site in Texas
